ThrustMe’s historic space launch the first iodine-propelled spacecraft in history
ThrustMe and Spacety have launched the first ever iodine-propelled satellite. The satellite was sent into space by a Long March 4B (CZ-4B) carrier rocket from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in China's Shanxi Province, on 3 November 2019 at 11:22AM (Beijing time). The 6U satellite, built by Spacety, includes a propulsion system developed and built by ThrustMe. Known as the I2T5, this propulsion system uses a first-of-its-kind, non-pressurized, cold gas thruster fuelled by solid iodine. Designed with CubeSats in mind, the I2T5 will help ensure a sustainable space industry by extending the lifetime of satellite missions, and enabling collision avoidance maneuvers. In the future, ThrustMe’s other iodine based, electric propulsion systems, will additionally enable orbital changes, constellation phasing, and orbit maintenance.